US launches new strikes on Iran days after targeting missile sites and mine-laying boats, officials say – The Independent

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The strikes were aimed at a military site believed to have posed a threat to U.S. forces and commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to one official
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The U.S. has launched new strikes on Iran, days after targeting the country’s missile sites and mine-laying boats, according to officials.
U.S. Central Command shot down four Iranian drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil passageway in the Middle East, a US official told The Independent.
An Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas, where a fifth drone was going to be launched, was also targeted, according to the official.
Bandar Abbas is a city located on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz and is home to a key Iranian naval base.
The official described the strikes as defensive and suggested the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran that has held for nearly two months is still in effect.
Reuters was the first to report on the new strikes.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Central Command announced what it called “self-defense” strikes, targeting Iran’s missile launch sites and mine-laying boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
“U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins said Monday evening.
“U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Hawkins added.
Iran’s foreign ministry had called the previous strikes a “gross violation” of the ceasefire.
The Independent has reached out to CENTCOM for comment on the new strikes.
The fresh strikes came after President Donald Trump threatened to “finish the job” if Tehran and Washington couldn’t reach an agreement that he was satisfied with.
“Iran is very ⁠much intent, they want ​very ⁠much to make a deal,” he said at a White House cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“So far, they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it, ⁠but we will be. We will be — either ⁠that or we’ll have ‌to just finish the job,” he added.
It’s been almost three months since the U.S. and Israel began launching strikes against Iran as Trump claimed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions posed an imminent threat to Americans.
Despite Trump repeatedly claiming that the war would end soon, peace talks have been slow-moving.
A majority of American voters, 60 percent, oppose the Iran war, while 40 percent support it, according to a recent Fox News poll.
When asked which side they think is winning the war, 65 percent said the U.S. and 34 percent said Iran.
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